Northern Michigan Climate Activists Headed to NY for Historic Rally

TRAVERSE CITY—Fifty-six northern Michigan climate activists will hop on a bus this weekend for a whirlwind trip to New York City to take part in a historic climate change rally.

Glen Lake High School Senior Jane Lively, working with the Michigan Land Use Institute and TC350, organized the bus trip as her senior project. With help from the nonprofits, she led fundraising and marketing efforts, and successfully filled the bus with a mix of activists and students.

“Last year, I was fortunate to ride a bus from Traverse City to the ‘Forward on Climate’ Rally in Washington D.C., attended by more than 50,000 people,” Lively said. “It was a really powerful experience to be a part of that event. When I heard about the upcoming People's Climate March in New York, I wanted to help bring more people to this movement.”

The Sierra Club, national climate advocacy group 350.org, and several national environmental organizations are organizing this weekend’s march in New York City to coincide with United Nations summit on the climate crisis. UN Secretary­ General Ban Ki-moon is urging governments to support an ambitious global agreement to dramatically reduce global warming pollution.

Activists will hit the streets to demand political action to address the climate crisis.

“It’s important to show world leaders that we’re watching, and to hold them accountable for their actions,” Lively said. “I really want to make sure northern Michigan is represented for such an important event.”

The bus will depart at 3 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 20, 2014, from Traverse City Parking Lot Z in the Warehouse District. It will pick up additional passengers in Ann Arbor around 7:30 p.m., and arrive in New York City around 8 a.m. Sunday for the march, which begins at 11:30 a.m. The bus will return to Traverse City around 9 a.m. on Monday.